Project MKUltra
Project MKUltra is an illegal CIA mind control program that began in the early 1950s. It oversaw the Monarch Project, the Silva Mind Control program, and such as Montauk Point. Investigation Project MKULTRA was first brought to wide public attention in 1975 by the U.S. Congress, through investigations by the Church Committee, and by a presidential commission known as the Rockefeller Commission. Investigative efforts were hampered by the fact that CIA Director Richard Helms ordered all MKULTRA files destroyed in 1973; the Church Committee and Rockefeller Commission investigations relied on the sworn testimony of direct participants and on the relatively small number of documents that survived Helms' destruction order. The published evidence indicates that Project MKULTRA involved the use of many methodologies to manipulate individual mental states and alter brain functions, including the surreptitious administration of drugs and other chemicals, sensory deprivation, isolation, and both verbal and sexual abuse. Although the CIA insists that MKULTRA-type experiments have been abandoned, 14-year CIA veteran Victor Marchetti has stated in various interviews that the CIA routinely conducts disinformation campaigns and that CIA mind control research continued. In a 1977 interview, Marchetti specifically called the CIA claim that MKULTRA was abandoned a "cover story." Scope of research In 1977, a FOIA request uncovered a cache of 20,000 documents relating to project MKULTRA, which led to the Senate Hearings of 1977. In recent times most information regarding MKULTRA has been officially declassified. One 1955 MKULTRA document gives an indication of the size and range of the effort; this document refers to the study of an assortment of mind-altering substances described as follows: # Substances which will promote illogical thinking and impulsiveness to the point where the recipient would be discredited in public. # Substances which increase the efficiency of mentation and perception. # Materials which will prevent or counteract the intoxicating effect of alcohol. # Materials which will promote the intoxicating effect of alcohol. # Materials which will produce the signs and symptoms of recognized diseases in a reversible way so that they may be used for malingering, etc. # Materials which will render the induction of hypnosis easier or otherwise enhance its usefulness. # Substances which will enhance the ability of individuals to withstand privation, torture, and coercion during interrogation and so-called "brain-washing". # Materials and physical methods which will produce amnesia for events preceding and during their use. # Physical methods of producing shock and confusion over extended periods of time and capable of surreptitious use (Note: this has been accomplished by utilizing methods of Satanic Ritual Abuse). # Substances which produce physical disablement such as paralysis of the legs, acute anemia, etc. # Substances which will produce "pure" euphoria with no subsequent let-down. # Substances which alter personality structure in such a way that the tendency of the recipient to become dependent upon another person is enhanced. # A material which will cause mental confusion of such a type that the individual under its influence will find it difficult to maintain a fabrication under questioning. # Substances which will lower the ambition and general working efficiency of men when administered in undetectable amounts. # Substances which promote weakness or distortion of the eyesight or hearing faculties, preferably without permanent effects. # A knockout pill which can surreptitiously be administered in drinks, food, cigarettes, as an aerosol, etc., which will be safe to use, provide a maximum of amnesia, and be suitable for use by agent types on an ad hoc basis. # A material which can be surreptitiously administered by the above routes and which in very small amounts will make it impossible for a person to perform physical activity. Disclosure On the Senate floor in 1977, Senator Ted Kennedy said: ::The Deputy Director of the CIA revealed that over thirty universities and institutions were involved in an "extensive testing and experimentation" program which included covert drug tests on unwitting citizens "at all social levels, high and low, native Americans and foreign." Several of these tests involved the administration of LSD to "unwitting subjects in social situations." At least one death, that of Dr. Olson, resulted from these activities. The Agency itself acknowledged thde:MK ULTRACategory:Mind Control/BrainwashCategory:US governmentCategory:MKUltraCategory:Cold Warat these tests made little scientific sense. The agents doing the monitoring were not qualified scientific observers. See also * Frank Olson * Monarch Mind Control * Pont-Saint-Esprit * Montauk Project External links * The Hidden Hand Q&A Pt. 2, with Richard Dolan on "disclosure"